morning it is cold. temperatures are running single digits in garrett county to 21 here. upper teens north and west. the wind chill is 8. we will see clouds build in throughout the afternoon especially. 24 by 9:00. 29 at noon and 32 for a high close to 5:00. we will have some light snow tomorrow. heavier south and i will detail that coming up. right now it is 6:00 and we need to find out about the friday traffic. with the answers, here's angie. >> angie with the ans and we begin in virginia. right now we are looking at a friday light. 95 northbound in v.a. great from the prince william parkway to the micking bowl and if you plan to continue on to interstate 395, the northbound trip is moving well as well between duke and seminary to the 14th street bridge. head over to those realtime graphic and show you how route 4 pennsylvania, route 5 branch avenue and 301 crane highway are shaping up. looks like we are incident and

accident free here, as well. back outside and head over to maryland and take you north of the district on the outer loop from 95 to georgia. no real volume. overall doing okay. wrap it up with inbound new york avenue. looks like everyone is moving at speed through dc to the tunnel. andrea? >> thank you. in an effort to spur job creation, president obama plans to unveil a $33 billion package of tax breaks aimed at encouraging businesses to hire new workers and give employees raises. the president is expected to announce the tax breaks before addressing house republicans for holding a policy conference in baltimore. tara mergener has more. >> reporter: president obama will roll out his new plan today aimed at getting small businesses to start hiring again. >> the true enginens of job creation here in america are america's business. >> reporter: a day after reconnecting with americans in florida he will tour a small business in baltimore and offer more details about the

proposal. it is estimated the $33 billion program will help 1 million businesses and include a five thousand dollars tax credit for every new employee hired this year. the amount will be capped at $500,000 per firm to make sure small companies get the benefit. businesses that increase wages or hours for existing employees would be reimbursed for extra social security taxes they would pay. >> the president wants to pay for the plan with savings from the wall street bailout, but that will be up to congress. the president will have a chance to sell his proposal to the gop later today. >> i want the republicans off the sidelines. i want them working with us to solve problems. >> reporter: he'll address house republicans during their retreat in baltimore but it may be a tough crowd. >> we are going to look for common ground but we are not going to roll over ouren on our principles or vote for things that we believe will hurt our

country. >> reporter: president obama will need republican support more than ever this year if he wants to pass his ambitious agenda. both sides agree true cooperation is key. the real battle now is achieving it. tara mergener , cbs news, washington. >> the senate has confirmed ben bernanke to a second term as the federal reserve. he faced the stiffest opposition in the 32 years the senate voted on the position. he had become a lightning rod for criticism over wall street bailout but he was able to overcome opposition to win a second term by a vote of 70-30. time for another "living $mart" report and digital correspondent jessica doyle is back with an economic checkup. doctor? >> well, i have to tell you these numbers are almost hard to believe given with what we have soon with the economy. later this morning we will have a reading on the economic growth in the final three months of the year. some are predicting the gross

domestic product report will show a red-hot 6%. that's a pace not reached since 2003. you may be asking why and the reason is government stimulus measures and why many analysts are predicting the growth will fade as these programs end. rates on a 30-year mortgage have remained almost flat this week as the federal reserve said it would keep rates near record lows to help the economy recover. according to freddie mac the average rate on a 30 year fixed is 4.98% this week. that's not far from historic lows. president obama has handed out $8 billion in federal stimulus money to build and improve rail lines in 31 states including the washington area. $75million awarded to virginia will help to fund a program that doubles the rate at which passenger trains can travel between richmond and washington. maryland will receive $60 million to replace a tunnel in baltimore and $9.4 million for a station that serves marc and bwi. this is a fraction of the money

needed for these programs but it is still money. >> it is still money and will still provide some jobs. it appears no terror trials will take place in knock. a white house source says president obama asked the justice department to move the trials outside of manhattan. concern about public safety and reopening old wounds was expressed by a number of new york city area resident and officials. the administration wanted to try the 9/11 mastermind khalid sheik mohammad and four other 9/11 terrorists in lower court in manhattan. the senate voted to strengthen sanctions against iran and impose new ones aimed at its gasoline supplies. i would extend sanks and impositive new saxes on imports to iran of certain refined products 4-6r7b8g9s 9 u.s. house and house committee websites were hacked in to following the state of the union address and now the house leadership wants to know how it

happened. house speaker nancy pelosi and john boehner have asked a review of cybersecurity procedures. all of the affected websites should be back to normal later today. coming up, we speak with a local man fighting to make sure his homeland of haiti will ref cover from the devastating quake. and the winter weather that is expected to hit our area this weekend bears down on the carolinas. but first a focus on maryland's weather and traffic. >> some kind of cold out there with the arctic air in place. wind chills are in the single digits and teens. the temperatures this morning under partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies. that's our story. we are talking about readings which are really on the cold side now. bundle up for sure. 16 in frederick and hagerstown. 14 cumberland. andrews 19. 23 patuxent river, 23 easton and 25 across the bay in cambridge. a cloudy day. some sun this morning. more clouds this afternoon,

especially south. la plata and crownsville 33. frostburg only 22. angie? >> it is. it is cold in the studio. we are zoning in on maryland roads beginning with a shot of 355 and shady grove. drivers are stopped at a light but nothing else stopping them. no incidents or accidents. connecticut avenue and georgia avenue. little volume but overall no problems. i want you to know in the wheaton avenue, georgia avenue and plyers mill road watch for crews doing work out there. and a report of an accident at maryland 28 and a little volume near west of montgomery. back to andrea. >> thank you. you should consider going that extra mile this morning. best selling author and motivational speaker willie jolly explains why it is a better path too success. good morning. this is willie jolly. today's live better tip for success is focus on how to help you get through this challenging economy.

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this morning we are focus oning on a local man who went to haiti to help in the relief effort there. jessica doyle spoke with him yesterday. >> he has a special event in washington this week to help the people of haiti. we welcome him back with humans united for action. thanks for joining us. >> when did you get back and

tell us about your experience in haiti. >> i got back on last monday. i guess my experience haiti was hard working, shocking because that was after 20 years i went back to haiti. that's an experience i would not forget. >> reporter: describe to us what haiti used to look like. when you think of haiti in your memories, what was haiti like then? >> haiti back then, when i used to know haiti, that was the haiti where you could be on the street playing without fear. people would be staying at home, not in the street. a haiti that used to be clean. because i was young and didn't know but i was safe, you know what i mean but not the haiti i went and saw last week. >> reporter: tell us about the haiti you saw last week. what are some of the emotions you felt there and seeing the

things that you saw? >> well, coming to haiti, i down recognize that it was my country because the thing with the aftermath of the quake, but again, seeing everybody on the street you would think it was a devastation but it is having to see people digging for food in the trash which i mean start to put tears in my eyes right away. that's the first image that caught my attention when i went to haiti. >> tell us about the even you have coming up. what people can do for help. >> we went to haiti not only on a relief mission but to assess for ourselves what really the media could not do. which we went. the people spoke and said exactly what they want, and we wanted to take the time. it is a free event at the high school to have everybody come

and say good-bye to people who lost their lives. and let people know that haiti will not be forgotten. >> we don't have much time left but for people who want to do more, people who want to donate, what can your organization do? >> i would tell them to go to give even $1. whatever god puts in their heart because we are going back on february 12th with 16 volunteers to go and feed 300 families. >> we appreciate you coming in and telling us about the event and your trip. >> thank you so much. this morning we are saying goo bye to a radio legend. today -- today is donnie simpson's last day on the air waves after three decades. kristin fisher is live at the wpgc studios in listen ma'am, maryland with more. >> good morning, andrea.

they are actually on the air live right now and donnie simpson just walked in the building. we will be talking a little quieter. we just hit a commercial. so joining me is donnie simpson on his last day. congratulations. 32 years on the air the area. >> yeah n dc. >> how are you doing this morning. >> i'm feeling great. this is an awesome moment. >> i heard you say this is not a retirement at all just a little change. definitely you are going out with a bang. what is next for all of the listeners that will miss you so much. >> i don't know at this point but i can tell you we'll stay in touch. hit me at donnie simpson on the air.com so we can remain in touch. i will let you know the next phase on february 11th, 2007. >> all right. throughout the morning show, you have a lot of friends. >> you are beautiful. i am not using to seeing women like you in real life. >> oh, thank you very much. >> usually a video. >> i do appreciate that. you have a lot of pretty

celebrities that you are friends with that will be calling in this morning. >> i brought a pretty with me. where is my daughter. >> his daughter. who can we expect will be calling in this morning? >> i have no idea. they haven't told me anything. >> no idea. >> let's do a little look back on your time here on the air in dc. what is your all-time favorite interview you have done here at wpgc. putting you on the spot. i know it is tough. >> wow. right off the tiptop, tip of my head, is that right, prince. >> prince. >> that is what aladdin said. that's his favorite story from you. >> that's amazing. i always wanted to interview prince. never had him on the radio or tv and two years ago he called and was so gracious and, you know, so cool and said some of the nicest things about me.

i always like when they talk nice about me. >> always a good thing. you have been on the air for 32 years. i have to ask, what kind of advice would you have for a young buck like myself getting in the business. you have managed to do it 32 years and be successful what should i do. >> i will give you the advice the great willard scott gave me when i arrived at nbc which is use the back door and stay off the second floor [ laughter ] >> stay under the radar. >> i will do my best. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> i will let you get back to it. very nice to meet you. and i know you are a fan of donnie simpson, andrea. and we will be here live to bring you the latest. stay tuned. >> thank you. don't forget to give him my hug even though one of us thought we would be out there. >> i had an opportunity to be

there a couple of years ago and kristin is a lucky lady to be there today. >> and the best to his wife and son and daughter. >> weather. >> a little snow coming. little snow in dc, south of dc it could be a lot of snow. st. mary's city, and reedville, fredericksburg. you could get six inches or more and richmond, norfolk, blacksburg, charlottesville maybe up to a foot. took a lot of snow the south. maybe snow after midnight and tomorrow light snow here. heavier south of dc and then on sunday the sun returns and highs in the lower 30s. momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, we have teens and 20s. bundle up. it is cold. wind chills, as well. 28 to 33 this afternoon with a northwest wind at ten. and light snow is possible late tonight. back in the teens and lower 20s

with light snow tomorrow. heavy snow south. highs in the mid-20s and a northeast wind at five to ten miles an hour. right now 22 on the bay in annapolis. 23 pax river. cambridge and saint indigos 25. north and west in the mid teens in the shenandoah valley. as cold as 14 in cumberland and 19 at dulles and manassas. the wind chill, this is key right now, wind chill is 7 in town. six in andrews. it is a cold morning out there. thanks to that arctic air in place. you know it is arctic air when dew point is at zero. that's a sign of true arctic air moving in. the winds at 14 giving us a wind chill of 7 an the barometer is high and continuing to rise at 30.40. the high pressure building in, that's one reason we think the storm will be held just off to our south. it is producing a lot of snow. you can see it this morning from missouri, northern oklahoma, kansas and it is going to go east on 40. look at the moisture on the

southern edge of the storm. if that were to feed in the cold air, big problems. as it is there are big problems with freezing rain and sleet across oklahoma and arkansas and maybe the case as we look at tennessee. the carolinas and possibly part of southern virginia will mix in to that freezing rain situation. we will be all snow around here. we have a winter storm watch in affect to our south. st. mary's county, northern neck to fredericksburg and back toward southern shenandoah valley. i'm expecting maybe an inch or so here in dc. however, southern prince georges, northern charles, la la plata upwards of three inches and south of that, look at how quickly things pick up. six plus in the northern neck and points south of fredericksburg and richmond to norfolk. we are talking maybe a foot of

snow. monday we recover upper 30s and maybe 50 by next thursday. how's it going, tgif. 270 southbound have a report of an accident at route 28. looks like things are filling out around the germantown road area to 370. to the maps we go, 95 and the baltimore-washington parkway, no problems out of baltimore all the way to powder mill. moving in to virginia, 66 eastbound looks like we are moving well 50 to 123. some volume around the 234 area but overall not too bad. 95 southbound in virginia. this is something new. we have an accident at 123. taking away the left center lane as well as the left lane. we are expecting delays and seeing them approaching the scene and going northbound, seeing a lot of volume lorton past 123 and rubbernecking, definitely contributing to that. here's the travel times. we look like we are in the

green everywhere from the toll road from 674 to the beltway, seven minutes. 14 minutes on the inner loop from 395 to the toll road and in maryland the outer loop 50 to 95 only nine minutes so far. back to you. the redskins hire one of their own to teach the teams wide receiver corps and the washington wizards receive an all-star snub. the headlines are next. shop smarter at kmart with the free...

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since hearing the news that javaris crittenton and arenas would be suspended the rest of the year. hard to spin it positive but for most of them at least the ordeal is over. the all star reserves announced last night and jamison is passed over. even though jamison outscores all three of the other guys. virginia, virginia tech, calves down three i. time running out. he will take an impossibly long three to tie it and he hits it. it forces overtime. however, the hokies rolled in the extra frame. this is malcolm delany. he i cans over uva by five. the skins hired veteran mccardell to replace their coach of wide receivers. a search and rescue team is back home after pulling 16

people out of the rubble in haiti. and a study that looks at the effectiveness of the texting while driving laws.

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in one week washington will say good-bye to tai shan. fedex is building a customize crate for tay shawn and a female companion. they promise he will be in good hands on the 14 1/2 hour flight to china next thursday. a public farewell party for tai shan is scheduled for saturday. now, if it snows the party moves to sunday. here to answer that question is howard bernstein. >> if it snows how much should be the question. we are getting a little snow the way it looks with a lot more to the south. i want to tell you what is happening outsiden if friday. a cold morning with high clouds mixing in. the moon is setting a few minutes ago the way it looks. carly in catlett called in and said it was about to set. the big storm is out in the middle of the country and that's what we are watching for tomorrow. it is really going to hit southern virginia more than here the way it looks. temperatures are seriously cold. we are at 20 degrees even here

in washington. one in oakland. and 23 southern maryland and fredericksburg. look at these wind chills, ten above in culpeper, 14 below in oakland an garrett county under a two hour delay. we are looking at mostly cloudy skies and thicker clouds later this afternoon. highs in the lower 30s. good morning, everybody. angie has the latest on the friday traffic. >> begin in virginia 95 southbound at 123, watching an accident taking away two left lanes and we are backed up at the lorton area. going northbound, two eyes on the roads, not the wreck. rubbernecking contributing to the slow go. to to the maps, 95 to 66, nice clean and green commute is what we are tracking. north of the district, here's maryland, 95 over to georgia still moving at a good pace and finally wrap up with a little congestion building on inbound new york avenue through

northeast dc between the times building and this area here at bladensburg road. that's the traffic. back to you. the latest on haiti. members of fairfax county's urban search and rescue team are waking up this morning. they returned to a heros welcome yesterday. the team is one of the first teams to deploy though island nation. they were rescued -- they rescued 16 people during the 15- day mission. >> all of that was driven by those voices. you know, we knew we had somebody. we heard them. we were talking to them. >> it makes me so proud to be able to do this. to see my family right there waiting for me to come home. >> reporter: 114 members of the elite unit saw duty in haiti. for more information on how you can help with the relief effort in haiti log on to wusa9.com. click on the earthquake relief link at the top of the home page. it seems all of those bands which prevent drivers from using their cell phones while

driving don't work. a insurance institute for highway safety study found there's no reduction in the number of crashes in states with laws which ban hand held cell phone use. there's also no indication that the rise in cell phone use has led to a spike in car crashes. and there was no difference in crashes among hand held and hands-free cell phone users. >> if you are thinking that enhacking these laws will give you a big reduction in crashes, it's not coming. >> i think more research, though, is needed to really determine what the true impact is of a variety of distracted driving behaviors while we are driving. >> reporter: aaa says it will continue to support the push for tougher legislation on distracted driving, especially texting. metro has a new board of directors chairman this morning. his name is peter benjamin. she a veteran engineer with 20 years of experience with metro. he says safety will be his top

priority. metro riders, get ready to dig deeper for cash. the metro board voted to raise fares on trains and buses by ten cents. it is scheduled to begin in march. metro is facing a $40 million budget deficit. we have two commuter alerts for you. the dc department of transportation is postponing closing chain bridge for another week. it was supposed to close this weekend so crews could pour concrete but the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate. look for the bridge to close new the first two weekends of february instead. crews are on track to shut down the eastern avenue bridge over 295 on monday. the span is scheduled to be closed for ten months. it's all part of a rehabilitation and expansion project. you can always find your way around any closures and delays at wusa9.com. just click on traffic. time for another "living $mart" report. digital correspondent jessica doyle is back with the latest

on a law impacting sick leave for dc workers. >> this of courses a lot of people. in november a new law was passed and this affects paid sick leave. what the rule gives you is it requires companies to offer seven days of paid sick leave. however, the mayor's office is yet to publish final rules to implement the measure. mayor fenty says the program details would be issued in the coming days. it reports service employees union international has written a letter asking the mayor to finalize the rules quickly. how does unlimited paid vacation time sound to you? this week a company in seattle, washington announced the new leave policy. i gives every full-time employee as much vacation, sick or other time that hey want to take. >> we have grownups in this office. we have people who work really hard, really passionately all the time and why not give them

the opportunity to schedule their lives the way they need to. >> reporter: social straita fay facilitating for businesses. and sorry, there are no openings. >> what a great policy. an international classic depicting the lives of those victimsized during world war ii is pulled from the reading list of one local school system. and local families struging to pay for college look for possible salvation from the president. time to focus on virginia's weather and traffic. here's howard. >> we are looking at a very cold morning across virginia. hearing from our weather watchers. 12 cross junction. and 19 in charlie in catlett under mostly cloudy skies. no snow out there. just clouds. some thicker to the south. more clear skies to the north where it is 15 in winchester. 21 orange and culpeper and quantico and ft.

belvoir and fredericksburg is 24. you are looking at more snow than we are for tomorrow. we will have more on the pending snow in eight minutes. right now angie has a look at the virginia commute. >> something we don't see too often. an incident southbound 95. that's the case this morning as we have an accident taking away two left lanes. drivers are backed up to lorton and jammed from the prince william parkway to the scene at 123. moving over to fairfax, virginia. here we are live from 50 and 123. good amount of volume. no incidents or accidents to report. come fly with me past the airport all the way to the toll plaza to access 66 or the beltway. right now we are looking at a friday light. speaking of friday, at 37, hope you are off to a great one. 9 news now will be back after these messages. breathe right, the small strip that gives you...

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hope for haiti is the first digital album to hit the top spot on the charts. the performances from the telethon is available only by down load. they say the telethon raised $61 million for the relief effort in haiti. here's howard. >> ♪ on the way. not a lot here in washington. unless the storm moving 50 miles. this is a close call for us. and i'm going to say what i'm saying but consider that. 50 miles makes a big difference in how much snow you are going to get. that means people toe south in southern maryland, southern virginia will see more snow than here in washington and north of town not expecting much at all. the forecast for friday, saturday and sunday, 32 today. it is cold.

increasing thickening clouds. snow after midnight and tomorrow. will be light and then sunday, sunny and temperatures back in the low 30s. highs are in the mid-20s. the momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, it is partly to mostly cloudy and very cold. wind chills are in the single digits in many spots. sunrise 7:17 this morning. in garrett county the wind chills are forcing a school delay of two hours. mostly cloudy, much colder this afternoon than yesterday. 28 to 33. winds from this northwest at ten miles an hour. and then tonight could be some snow after midnight the way it looks now. lows between 16 and 22. so when we get the snow tomorrow it will be a fluffy snow. normally we talk snow ratios ten to one and this could be 20 to one. it won't take a lot of moisture to create a decent amount of snow. 20 in town. 23 at pax river naval air station. 15 shenandoah valley. 19 manassas and also at dulles

we know it is 17. bret in falls church said he had 19. and in the northern neck jan was down to 200 so in reedville. when you factor in the winds wind chill in the single digits for cumberland to fredic. it is baltimore. 7 on the wind chill here in town and the warmer wind chills, 13 fredericksburg. an arctic morning an here with dew point around zero. the actual air temperature 2 rom and with the winds at 14 that's why we have dangerous wind chills this morning. the storm system itself will get us. heavy rains in western louisiana, southern arkansas. where it is cold enough in the middle of the state, little rock, freezing rain going on. northern arkansas, missouri, kansas, okay, you are dealing with snow. some of the snow has been heavy and some freezing rain as been heavy as well and that's the

concern. will we get to the heavy bit of moisture. doesn't look like it. cold air is moving in and with high pressure building down it will be just to our south. not talking much but st. mary's county, northern neck, spotsylvania, fredericksburg, down south, all of this yellow. this is a winter storm watch from midnight tonight until tomorrow night and south of there warnings are issued for roanoke, they could see a foot of snow. what i think we will see here in dc is a trace to an inch. don't have to go too far south, southern prince georges county, one to three. benedict, waldorf, seeing one to three. and then you go farther south over to stafford and down to fredericksburg, three to six. mechanicsville three to six. southern st. mary's, northern neck, fredericksburg, six plus. right now could see six to ten

inches toward reedville. i expect a fluffy snow. if this storm were to move a little to the north. we are only talking 50 miles then we would be in the three to six inch band but right now the southern areas are much more highly favored to see a significant snow than here in dc and toward frederick you may not see a flake out of this thing. the cold air is in place through sunday. temperatures will be blow 30s today. and sunday. by monday we are back in the upper 30s. tuesday a disturbance could bring us snow showers and then by thursday we will warm up to 50. right now it is 19 at 6:45. we begin with 95 southbound at 123. that's where we have an accident. it was blocking two lanes. the good news is now out of the way, all lanes getting by but we are dealing with the remnants of that. delayed back to lorton going northbound, below speed from the prince william parkway to

123. continuing to 395 northbound. looks like the volume is setting in around the edsall area. like this to seminary. maryland, 270 southbound great germantown road to montross. a little volume. our next stop, 50 westbound we are moving from the bay bridge to bowie and the capital beltway and we have a train alert for you. train alert, metro and vre on time but minor delays on the marc train, penn line is 30 minutes behind and train number 509 and 408 is cancelled due to mechanical issues. students and their families are doing the math on program's call for college loan reform. it's a big pocketbook issue in maryland with a five year tuition freeze is coming to an end and community colleges are bursting at the seams with students trying to get by on less. >> right now, my family is struggling a little bit with money. >> reporter: this 18-year-old

left hernandez in high school with straight a's. she is a 4.0 here at this community college and -- >> i don't think my parents could afford a few-year institution so i'm staying here another year. >> we have seen a mayor increase. >> they say student numbers are up as high as 15%. >> there is a problem with students finding resources to attend colleges and universities. >> reporter: in his state of the union, president obama called for college loan reform and a $10,000 tax credit for families paying for four years of college. it is happening as maryland is preparing to unfreeze tuition at state universities after holding the line for four years of 3% increase is expected. currently maryland is ranked 17th in the country for college costs. about $4,000 perceive midwest -- semester at the university of maryland. at prince georges county community college, the same credits could be earned for

$1,800 but to move on, loans, say students like katrina, fernandez seem out of the question. >> my mom remind me all the time, i hope you are looking for scholarship because if you don't you have to take out loans. >> the president's loan reforms include capping payments at 1 a% of a person's income and at 20 years writing off the balance. is a lift a lot of students here say they sorely need. at prince georges county community college, scott broom. 9 news now and wusa9.com. a school in montgomery county is interviewing students after they say someone hacked their computer system to change grades. officials in potomac say the changes may have been going on since last school year. teachers say because they don't keep paper records for grades it will be hard to go back and check. a version of anne frank's diary is coming off the shelves at culpeper school library. it will stop assigning the

diary of he young girl, the definitive edition after a parent complained about a sexual nature of a passage. it will still be taught in culpeper county but they will use a different version for future assignments. a murder mystery involving a former lottery winner takes a new twist. and world leaders unveil plans for the withdrawal of international forces from afghanistan. it is 6:49. you are watching 9 news now.

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world leaders have reached agreement on a timetable for withdrawalling forces from afghanistan. under the plan afghanistan will slowly start to take over internal security duties over the next three years. world leaders unveiled a plan too persuade taliban militants to lay down their weapons. there's no word if human remains found near a home in

plant city, florida belong to a missing florida lottery winner. they suspect they may belong to abraham shakespeare. he was last seen in april of 2009. we are looking at a much colder day today. the arctic air is in place and the clouds are thickening. in mid-20s this morning, upper 20s for lunchtime and low 30s for the ride home. angie will have a look at the commute and i will have the seven-day forecast when 9 9 news now returns.

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i recommend act fluoride mouthwash. act works with calcium to rebuild enamel. to avoid dental problems act daily. today after being part of the local air waves for more than three decades, donnie simpson is walking away. kristin fisher is at the wpgc

studios with more. >> let's be clear, this is not a retirement for donnie simpson, just a break. >> thank you. >> and you are saying you are sick the living legend pioneer talk because it is making you feel old. >> it is flattering. don't get me wrong. they could call me worse but pioneer, institution, living legend, it is like god. >> monument. >> we'll take a break from that and get back the basics and for you i think that would mean music. you have a long career in radio has been about music, right. >> i'm a musen man, i love music, all kinds of things. >> so out of all the celebrities interviewed is there anyone you want to meet and chat with? >> well, to chat with for an interview the only person for the longest period there were only two people i wanted and that was prince and michael jackson and i got prince and

never got michael. you know, and i have known michael for forever, since he was 12 years old. and so i knew him. we hung out many times together but i never had an interview with him on the air and i would have liked that. so, no, i can't think of anyone that i would want to sit down and chat with. >> you are very fulfilled. >> i know you will probably enjoy sleeping in. he has his wife and daughters in the studio this morning. they will probably enjoy getting more time with you as well. >> my wife won't but my daughter might but my wife won't, believe that. what will you miss most about coming in and doing your thing. i think your viewers will miss you. >> the listeners. that's what i will miss most. we have spent so many mornings together the last 30 plus years. i had a listener call in yesterday morning and she's crying and this is so hard for me. your voice has always been there in the morning. i feel the same thing that i

have always talked to you every morning and now i won't do that. so, you know, it just comes a time when, you know, you have to move on. god wants me in a different spot right now and that's what i have to do. i have to go. >> i will leave you gays with this. i'm told for all of you listeners out there that would like to see donnie simpson. you are holding a fan appreciation event at ben's chili bowl noon to 2:00. that's your chance to see him. >> come on down. >> i like that. we will be back at 9:00 a.m. the "early show" is next.